Box blade technique.

[Harv]

<font color=blue>It probably also is affected by the size of the tractor and the weight of the box blade.</font color=blue>

Yeah, I was thinking about that after my last post, Don. Your equipment is much bigger, heavier and more powerful than my li'l 'Bota. But then, everything in Texas is bigger, huh? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I'd never heard of it happening before, but now I have. Just glad it hasn't happened to me yet, and glad you're still around to tell the story.

 

[rdln]

Try lowering the two outside ripper teeth down to a position about 2-3inches below the plane made by the bottom of sides and blades and let them drag as you are going backwards. I believe that is the best way mimic a bulldozer.If the ground is hard, tilt the toplink out to decrease the backblade/ground gap, if soil is soft teeth will gravitate deeper in soil so tilt toplink in. If you adjust all teeth to drag that way, you are susceptible to more bumps that will raise the box.

If you are in the boonies with out a jack and need to service the rear tire(s) and you have a loader and MFWD,fill your bucket with dirt and carefully back into and immoveable object with a boxblade in float. With enough traction the front tires will push the back tires off the ground. I just learned this yesterday on accident.

 

[radman]

A technique I discovered useful for using a boxblade was kind of by accident. Others have discussed a washboard effect caused be the back or front wheels entering a dip. I noticed if I final grade in a circular or figure 8 pattern, that most of the dips/washboards are eliminated. I believe this is because the box blade now works in an angled manner and both the tractor and blade tend to float over the ground easier.
I also believe that top-N-tilt makes the problem of getting the right grade much easier.

 

[dmccarty]

tbohen,

If you can get a hydraulic toplink. Its a must have when using
a box blade.

- GO S L O W! GO S L O W. I keep my tractor in range A(low) and
in gear 2. 1 is lowest 4 is highest.

- TURN ON MFWD if you got it. MFWD makes a HUGE difference when
pulling dirt. Without MFWD turned on, my tractor can surge as the
box blade hits rocks and roots.

- Rip the ground first if you have lots of rocks. Then smooth with the
back of the box.

- Its often easier to smooth things by going in reverse if you have a box
that has a blade on the rear.

This last weekend I started smoothing and finishing my driveway to be.
It took a few hours to do 500 feet plus a turning circle that is about 60
feet in diameter. HEAVILY rocked soiled. I have driven the driveway
with the truck and it was a bumpy ride. Drive the wifey's Jeep up the
road after most of the rocks where removed and the driveway was
smoothed out. She still thought it was bumpy but it was a huge
difference after I spent a few hours working it.

Take your time.

A hydraulic toplink really makes this easy to do....

Good Luck,
Dan McCarty

 

[centex]

Harv,

<font color=green>everything in Texas is bigger, huh? </font color=green>

Only the longhorns (cattle that is). One of my neighbors or I should say several of my neighbors have longhorn cattle and I am always amazed at the size of the horns on those things even though I have been around them all my life. My cattle are polled because I don't want to be near anything that looks that wicked!

 

[tbohen]

Thanks for all the tips everyone, I hope to put them to use this weekend. I'll post whether or not I actually figure it out

 

[Rockyroad]

I agree with the guy who pointed out that a rear tiller does a great job, particularly on sod or compacted soil. I just did some areas on a road bank on my property. Used the tiller to pulverize the soil, then backbladed with the FEL to finish grade it. Worked great. Not only that, but the tiller tends to smooth things out because the heavy tiller door dragging on the loosened soil acts like a grader. I have even worked my gravel drive near my barn this way. The gravel is, however, hard on the tiller tines.

By the way, my JD 750 has these slots at the bottom of the two lift arms that can be adjusted to provide "float" to rear mounted implements. You reverse a piece of steel and the implement can move up in down in the slot a few inches. Reverse the steel and the implement cannot move up and down in these slots. I have never heard anyone here on TBN discuss these things. An old timer at the local general store where we gather for coffee in the morning put me wise to this.
Anyone out there making use of them?

 

[RobS]

My 790 has the slots in the tph also. The manual calls it "lateral float". I use it for everything except bush-hogging. Before I discovered the feature I would get a lot of gouging when using my box blade and rake. With the lateral float, the implements follow the contour of the land with little or no gouging. I suppose there are instances where you want to control the lateral tilt but I haven't had to yet /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif